diff --git a/cli.py b/cli.py
index b65f60f3..ccc30c8b 100644
--- a/cli.py
+++ b/cli.py
@@ -66,7 +66,15 @@ def init_cli_resource():
     @click.argument('path')
     @click.option('--all/--one', default=False)
     @click.option('--tag', default=None)
-    def show(tag, all, path):
+    @click.option('--use-json/--no-use-json', default=False)
+    def show(use_json, tag, all, path):
+        import json
+        import six
+
+        printer = lambda r: six.print_(r)
+        if use_json:
+            printer = lambda r: six.print_(json.dumps(r.to_dict()))
+
         if all or tag:
             for name, resource in xr.load_all(path).items():
                 show = True
@@ -75,10 +83,9 @@ def init_cli_resource():
                         show = False
 
                 if show:
-                    print resource
-                    print
+                    printer(resource)
         else:
-            print xr.load(path)
+            printer(xr.load(path))
 
     resource.add_command(show)
 
diff --git a/solar/solar/core/resource.py b/solar/solar/core/resource.py
index 59941f07..a4602b61 100644
--- a/solar/solar/core/resource.py
+++ b/solar/solar/core/resource.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 import copy
-import json
 import os
-import shutil
 
 from copy import deepcopy
 
@@ -45,11 +43,16 @@ class Resource(object):
         self.tags = tags or []
 
     def __repr__(self):
-        return ("Resource(name='{0}', metadata={1}, args={2}, "
-                "tags={3})").format(self.name,
-                                    json.dumps(self.metadata),
-                                    json.dumps(self.args_show()),
-                                    self.tags)
+        return ("Resource(name='{name}', metadata={metadata}, args={args}, "
+                "tags={tags})").format(**self.to_dict)
+
+    def to_dict(self):
+        return {
+            'name': self.name,
+            'metadata': self.metadata,
+            'args': self.args_show(),
+            'tags': self.tags,
+        }
 
     def args_show(self):
         def formatter(v):